In a world where anything is possible but time is limited, we need to make choices. Sometimes those choices lead to something useful very quickly, sometimes they are dead ends. I usually don’t mind the dead ends as I tend to learn something from them. That said, I have been spinning my wheels a bit over the last few days as I attempt to overhaul my resume and build a new website for it. It really isn’t even a resume site to speak of anymore, nor even a cv. I am not entirely sure what to call it, truth be told, but let us settle on “collection” for now. There are a few things I have decided it will and won’t be:

1. It won’t be constrained or narrowly focused. In the past I have constructed my resume to only appeal to a specific area of interest, usually aimed a company that I seek employment from. As a freelancer, I feel more free to let the variety of experience speak up.

2. It will speak in layman’s terms. I will try to avoid jargon in favor of plain speaking, ie “blog” or “website”, not “content management” or “HTML/Javascript”

3. I will include other areas that I enjoy and can seek work in, ie “writing” and “French tutoring” and “photography”. Just because technology is the most lucrative does not mean that is all I will seek.

4. My site will be my calling card, and should be very well designed. It is this last point that is causing me fits. As I research a number of different (and very cool) sites out there, I find myself drawn to many shiny objects out there. Some of these are programmatic, some are design, some are organizational. In any event I have spent many many hours diddling over the past few days, often ending up tossing something as impractical or dull. I feel like I am finally on the right track, but still have many hours ahead of me. And miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.

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Oh, this may get me to start updating my resume again :) You are quite the same thinking little man. I do still enjoy your stories and pix as you’ve definitely blossomed into a beautiful writer. I believe I still have a few things you wrote long ago on Lockerbie, maybe a few haikus, I may have to get into my trunk to see. Seems like a million years ago doesn’t it… Looking forward to your next blog my old friend.

Submitting to a resume bank (a la recruiters or Monster) is a very different and separate thing that what I am creating here. That is why I prefer not to think of this site in the traditional “resume” sense, although it is meant to lead to a variety of engagements, not all of which will be tech. (As noted above, the working title is “collection”, but I am in search of a better term.) I still have the “straight” version in those Monster / DICE DBs, but they have nothing to do with my own presentation here, or the type of audience I am currently trying to reach. (Nor have they typically led to very satisfying work, a not wholly unrelated point)